


Potential

by reginahalliwell



Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Episode: s06e18 The Real Paul Anka, F/M, Fix-It, introspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-07
Updated: 2016-03-07
Packaged: 2018-05-25 05:42:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,183
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6182731
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reginahalliwell/pseuds/reginahalliwell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another fix it for "The Real Paul Anka" because I can't stop.</p>
<p>Rory hasn't quite fixed everything when she goes to visit Jess in Philly.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Potential

“So everything’s fixed?” he asks her, inching closer in his seat with every word.

She pauses.

Almost everything. Now that she’s here, she feels so stupid. Why hadn’t she finally fixed everything, gotten Logan out of her life at last? Since she met him, everything’s been messed up. She doesn’t love him—this can’t be what love is. She’s known love before and it’s never been this destructive.

“Rory?” he asks again, prompting her to meet his eyes, startled out of her musings. 

“I’m sorry,” she says, “There’s something I haven’t fixed just yet. Let me… can you give me a minute?”

He pulls away, figuring out what she’s on about, and with a sort of confused, disappointed, hopeful look, he nods. 

“I’ll be here,” he says, trying to be calm and nonchalant. 

She smiles sadly and walks out the front door, pulling her phone out as she goes. 

She’s gone longer than she expects, but he’s sitting inside on one of the couches, predictably reading. This time it appears to be a newer collection of poems, and she doesn’t recognize the poet one the cover. 

“Any good?” she asks, and he looks up as she approaches. 

“Eh, it’s one of ours. No Ginsburg, that’s for sure. But’s it’s not bad.” He looks around, checking to see that the poet isn’t still at Truncheon, but the people emptied out long ago and it’s just the two of them again. 

“So.” He says it, but isn’t actually sure what he wants to say. 

She looks down, twiddling her fingers in her blazer briefly. “I’m sorry, Jess. I came here to see you and support you and… well, most of all, to thank you. And then I got here and I realized that there was one thing left to fix. One thing that wasn’t me, that isn’t me. I hope I haven’t ruined it.”

They don’t need to say his name. He understands. He knows how badly that guy must have treated her, how hard it still was to break it off. After all, Dean broke up with her because of him, she didn’t have to do it. And he had left Rory, effectively doing the deed for her. He didn’t want to assume anything, but maybe this was the first time she had to end a relationship. It’s hard. He knows it’s hard, and he knows Rory.

“You didn’t ruin anything,” he says, taking her hand and tugging her gently to sit next to him. “Wanna see?” He hands her the book, holding his finger in the page that he was reading. 

She takes it and is quiet for a few minutes as she reads. 

When she looks up again, he can see the tears welling in her eyes, but she just agrees, “Not bad.”

“He may have potential. We’ll see.”

Her eyes are sparkly as she puts the book down on her lap and turns a bit to face him. “Jess, I really do want to thank you. I was in such a bad place, everything you said was so right, and I needed to hear it. You know me so well—you’ve always known me, even sometimes more than my mom. My grandparents were treating me like I was going to break and my mom wouldn’t talk to me, and Yale, and the DAR, and… and… it just, none of it was right. Thank you for helping. No one else could have.”

“Yeah, well, somebody had to kick some sense into you. And, you’ve always pushed me, made me do better, so I figured I had to return the favor.”

“I’ve always known you were capable of greatness,” she tells him, smiling like it was years ago. “You just had to believe it too.”

He nods, reminiscing on his rebellious youth.

“But so are you, Rory, and you forgot that. I’m not here to put you on a pedestal, but I knew you could do better than the DAR.”

“You were so right. We should have a bonfire so I can burn some of those dresses.”

“I’m always happy to lend a hand for destruction.”

“So,” she starts again, “mostly everything’s fixed now.”

He looks at her, puzzled. He’s sure she broke up with the trust fund asshole just now, and not sure what she means.

She reaches over to take his hand in her own, and he’s warm, so warm, and she forgot how much his presence, his smile, his witticisms made her tingle inside, made her flutter.

He looks at her now in seeming disbelief and uncertainty. He wants to believe this means something good, but doesn’t want to get his hopes up.

“Mostly everything?” he dares to ask, looking down at their intertwined hands.

“Just one thing left, and everything will be perfect,” she confirms. She leans in, slowly, ever so slowly, and he knows but can’t believe this is really happening. 

He meets her halfway, happy that she initiated this kiss. Her lips are as soft and sweet as ever, but now she’s older and clearly more experienced and the way her mouth responds to his, the way her arm clutches the back of his neck… 

She smiles into his mouth, feeling his disbelief fade away after a few seconds and he deepens the kiss, pulling her closer into his arms and caressing her back and sides as they embrace.

When she pulls away, it’s not in shame, or shock, or fear. She finishes the kiss and then turns her head to rest hers in the crook of his shoulder, pulling him into a tight hug. 

He returns the hug, putting all his energy into showing her without words how happy he is. How good this is. How right it is.

She sighs, and pulls away just enough to look at her. This time, she’s actually crying. “Happy tears,” she promises, and he holds her close. 

Jess closes his eyes to savor this moment just in case it’s the last one he gets.

He’s in a good place, with work, and life, and family. It took him a long time, but now he feels like he has his whole life ahead of him and it’s not so daunting. 

And Rory, his Rory, is finally herself again. Finally on the path she wants to be on. Here, in Philly, there’s no Dean or Logan or her mom or grandparents to make this go bad. There’s just the two of them. 

“What do you want, Rory?” he asks, knowing this could have been a one-off. It could be the end of this perfect, precious moment. 

She smiles. “What do you think I want, dummy?”

He grins and chooses a tried-and-true tactic. “Well, right now, I think you’ll want to see my library. It’s grown since the last time you’ve seen it.”

Laughing, Rory gives him a quick kiss and pulls him up to stand. “So show me, Dodger. We’ll see if your collection is as impressive as you think…”

He clasps her hand in his, smiling, and leads her up the staircase to the apartment he’s made into a home.


End file.
